


Samhain

by kitkattz



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Ghosts, Halloween, M/M, Pagan Festivals, Pagan Gods, Paganism, Romantic Fluff, Samhain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:01:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23449711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitkattz/pseuds/kitkattz
Relationships: Jake English/Dirk Strider
Kudos: 8





	Samhain

Your fingers curl to meet his, pressing into the spaces between them, and, Gods, you've waited for this for what seems like forever. There was only one time of year he could actually cross and stay with you, and since you had discovered how to give him a solid form, just for the night, you have absolutely no regrets about this. You have been waiting years for this, and finally you've given him a life back, even if its just for tonight. You've given him the ability to feel alive again.

And the first thing he does is touch you. Touch your hands, your face, press his ear to your chest so he can hear your heart beating erratically behind your rib cage.

By doing this, by giving him this, you've cursed yourself, but you can't seem to find it in you to care. You'd be going back with him once dawn breaks, once the first night of Samhain ends. He's told you of the Other World, the world of spirits, and you aren't as scared as you thought you might be.

Every move he makes is hesitant, but you both know you two don't have very much time. Even with the noisy celebrations just outside of the woods, the icy chill of the light drizzle of rain that soaks you to the bone, you can hardly focus on anything other than his eyes. They're a stunningly bright shade of emerald green that you've never seen before in your life, and you can't help but hate the fact that you hadn't been able to see them sooner, appreciate them sooner.

Because you won't be able to appreciate them for very long.

Twelve hours is hardly enough time to be alive with him when its all you have left. Its worse than it was all the years prior that he's visited you. You've withheld any kind of advances of female suitors because you knew, one day, you would be able to either cross with him or let him stay with you.

Having a little bit of both makes you far more grateful than you think you've ever been to your Gods, and especially to your Priestess. Lady Calliope had been the one to find you the incantation after hearing of your trials from the Gods themselves.

You weren't sure you had believed before, but such miracles don't occur out of nowhere.

Jake's hands move gingerly to your chest, every movement making you ache for another. You want him more than you have ever wanted anyone else, and you know because of such desires you'd be damned by the Christian God. You're all damned by him, but you can hardly bring yourself to believe in such a thing, especially such vile teachings, when you've been gifted such a chance.

You love Jake, and he loves you too; you know it. You can feel it. Its been an unspoken vow between the two of you since this affair began. You didn't deserve someone like Jake; he was too pure, hardly touched by the wrongdoings of the world, and taken at your age by disease, and you are exactly the opposite.

You can't help yourself any longer, and finally, _finally,_ you lean into him, pressing your lips to his, and he responds likewise. Its messy and unpracticed, but you're sure there's absolutely nothing better than this; nothing better than feeling his chest against yours, his sloppy kisses that miss your lips every now and again, his hands pressed into the small of your back. You drag him forward, laying back against the leaves covering the forest floor, and let your fingers tangle in his hair. You're sure you've never loved anyone the way you love him; you've certainly never fallen so hard for anyone else before him.

You give him your everything, you speak the unspoken vow, you tell him you love him with your entire heart behind your words. When he laughs and says _me too,_ you smile at him, your heart ready to leap from your chest. You can't help the way you love him; love his messy mane of tangled curls, the way he looks at you with those bright green irises, how he's just as gentle as you imagined he would be, touches just as light; fingers callused and beautiful, ebony skin glinting beautifully in the moonlight.

You two stay like that for a while, tangled in one another's limbs on the forest floor, letting the rain soak you both to the bone until Jake murmurs something about how if he weren't already dead the chill out here might've killed him. He asks if you're cold, and after nodding, the two of you slip away to huddle among the large, knotting roots of an ancient alder tree to keep out of the rain.

Jake's wild hair has turned into a sopping mess, and you can't say you're in any better state, your back coated in the dirty water that had covered the leaves on the forest floor and your hair an absolutely atrocious, muddy mess. Neither of you mind much, and you can't help but kiss him again when he grins at you, teeth chattering lightly.

When you pull away to bury your face in his neck, he holds you tightly. "I forgot," he murmurs, "What it feels like to be cold."

When his fingers tickle their way down your spine, the question you've been plagued with since Lady Calliope gifted you the incantation to let you join Jake finally forces its way to the front of your mind. "Can ghosts touch each other?" You ask, hesitantly, hoping his reply is not the answer you dread.

"Well, yes of course," Jake begins, running his fingers gently over your shoulder blades, and you can't help but sigh lightly, relieved. "Just the way the living can touch one another on the physical plane. Like this—" Jake moves a hand over the back of your neck gently. "—feels the just same, but less intense on the Other Side."

You can't help but lean into his touch, bringing your head up to look at him again. You feel stupid for asking— it should have occurred to you that the only reason you couldn't touch Jake before now was because you weren't both of the same realm of existence, even if those realms merged at times.

"Are you ill?" He asks, almost out of nowhere, and you pause, contemplating lying to him before finally mumbling a quiet _no._ You quickly notice that he doesn't quite look convinced.

"I swear, I'm not ill," you tell him with more confidence to your words this time. He still doesn't seem completely taken by your statement, but you assume its for the better. After all, you will be joining him in his return to the Other Side at the break of dawn.

He lets the topic die, but you can sense the slight unease its brought him, so instead you try to change the subject. "What's it like on the Other Side?"

Jake glances over at you, fingers moving to curl through yours. "Well, it's almost the same. Just a little brighter and with more animals. Everything with a spirit continues to exist on the Other Side." Jake pauses momentarily, thinking for a little while before continuing; "It's different; far more peaceful. I like it."

You nod lightly, snuggling a little closer when Jake bumps his shoulder to yours and opens his arms in invitation.

"You're quite chilly, are you sure you're alright?" He asks, trailing his fingers over your arm. You mumble a near-unintelligible reply into his chest as his arms close around you in a strange, sideways embrace.

You still can't quite get over the fact that this was actually happening, that you could touch him and feel him, even if you couldn't find a heartbeat. That's probably normal for someone who's already dead, you muse to yourself.

You ask him questions about his past; the things you don't know. You ask about his childhood, where he grew up, if its anywhere close. He merely gives a shrug, explaining that where he had lived was no longer here, as Ireland was mostly populated now. He explained he lived in a tiny island off the coast, but it simply doesn't seem to exist any longer. He's tried to visit it, but he can't as its underwater.

What he does tell you, however, is astounding. It was surrounded by lush forest and he lived among large gourds that grew all over the area, his home a small hut built in the largest branches of the tallest tree. He says there were a myriad of beasts on the little island, some friendly and others he had to defend his home from. Wolves and large cats like those of a place he called India.

He talks of unexplored lands and unfound treasure buried by pirates, of towns sinking into the sea, of tremors that shake the Earth and destroy everything in their wake. He speaks of societies undiscovered, a place he calls Asia that has large armies and a wonderful thing he calls gunpowder, or Huǒyào as he says it. He explains his knowledge by reminding you that, being free for more than one hundred nights of Samhain, he had many places he could go, many things he had to see for himself that he had only heard rumors of.

By the time his story telling is finished, you realize the time. Its near sunrise, the deep purples of the night beginning to lighten to stunning shades of crimson and gold. Jake's expression is filled with the sadness you see each year on this day, and you shift lightly to look up at him from your place among the leaves and roots.

"Jake, I have to tell you something," you start, and he glances at you suspiciously, his skin beginning to shimmer to give way to his usual spectral form. "The incantation, it—"

You come to an abrupt stop when you feel a strange sensation move over your skin, something akin to the prickles of warmth after coming inside to a hearth lit with fire after a snow storm.

"Dirk, what did you do?" Jake asks, obvious concern in his voice. He reaches out to you the moment you realize you can see through your hand. You fight the urge to check to see if you've actually left a physical body behind, slightly uneasy at the reality that you are indeed a specter now.

"The incantation," you murmur, and Jake narrows his eyes, "it is done so I can cross with you."

Jake grits his teeth, obviously angry, "Strider—" 

"Jake, please listen. I can't... Keep doing this. Waiting a year to see you for just a night! I am crossing with you, and it's not as though I can stay here now. Physically, I must cross with you."

"I wish you would've told me!"

"What good could that possibly have done?" You questioned. "It was done when I called you here. The moment you were in a physical form it was done."

You watch as spectral tears streak down Jake's cheeks, saddened that you would give up life so easily, and for him no less. "I would have waited for you," he says, voice pained. "You didn't-- there was no need to-- I would have never asked you for this!"

"I did this because this is what I wanted, Jake," You tell him, thrilled when your hands meet the same way they had before. "You didn't have to ask me. I want to be with you. It was painless, just as the priestess said. She granted my greatest wish, I would not have been happy marrying and growing old without you." You pause, taking a deep breath. "I love you, and to spend my life with anyone but you would be a waste."

You bring your clasped hands to his face, wiping those tears away and smiling. "We can explore the world together every year now, Jake. Show me India, show me Asia, show me the new lands, teach me about everything you know! My life here would have been nothing but common were it not for you, please don't cry."

He hiccups, closing his eyes and leaning into your touch for a moment before glancing at the sky. "I'm not pleased you did this, but I understand," he tells you quietly, then says. "We must go, else we'll be stuck for the year and may never find our way back."

You let him lead you to the crossroads, met by your Dark Goddess, who directs you toward the veil. She smiles lightly in greeting as you pass, Jake glancing back to look at you once more before leading you to a pool of blinding light.

 _This is it._ You wonder how ludicrous it is that your life truly began the day you decided to die, but you disregard the thoughts, following Jake without hesitation as he disappears through the bright, mirrorlike surface of the veil.

Once inside, Jake stops, looking over to you. "Are you ready?"

You smile at him, "As long as I'm with you."

And with that, you step together into the Other World.


End file.
